Promoting walkable communities with excellent transportation to connect people to opportunity, keep California affordable and help solve our climate crisis.

Our Mission

TransForm promotes walkable communities with excellent transportation choices to connect people of all incomes to opportunity, keep California affordable and help solve our climate crisis.

With diverse partners we engage communities in planning, run innovative programs and win policy change at the local, regional and state levels.

Our History

TransForm was founded in 1997 by Bay Area environmental and social justice groups that recognized the region was at a critical point in time. Public transportation was being bled dry while more highway projects got the green light. Bulldozers were carving up remaining open spaces and farms. Huge numbers of people – especially low-income families – were moving in pursuit of affordable places to live only to have grueling, costly commutes. For those on foot, bicycle, or using a wheelchair, it was getting far too dangerous.

The time had come to turn the tide on sprawl, and redefine transportation in terms of access, health, justice, and sustainability. In the years since TransForm’s founding and often working closely with the founding groups, TransForm has won literally billions of dollars and groundbreaking policies in support of public transportation, smart growth, affordable housing, and bicycle/pedestrian safety.

TransForm seeks to make the Bay Area a model region, but also works across California to spread solutions plus win big changes in state funding and policy. TransForm opened an office in Sacramento in 2009.

How We Work

Engaging Communities in Planning: We believe people should play a central role in shaping the future of their communities, especially disadvantaged communities who are most impacted by changes.

Whether we are directly organizing at the grassroots or working with partners at the regional level, we make sure that planning genuinely and deeply involves residents.

Bringing Innovative Programs to Life: We’re developing – and spreading – new solutions to some of the most challenging barriers to creating more affordable places with abundant transportation choices.

Some highlights are GreenTRIP's innovative approach to getting new developments to reduce traffic, plus our model urban-focused program that's getting thousands of kids walking and biking to school.

Winning Policy Change: There are hundreds of decisions that together determine our transportation choices and what our communities are like.

That’s why TransForm works in the Bay Area and at the state level to transform laws, funding decisions, and planning processes. Check out some of the reports that have shaped our approach.